Yoshua Bengio played a crucial role in the development of the machine-learning systems we see today. Now, he says that they could pose an existential

Humanity faces a 'catastrophic' future if we don’t regulate AI, 'Godfather of AI' Yoshua Bengio says

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2024-10-02 12:30:07

Yoshua Bengio played a crucial role in the development of the machine-learning systems we see today. Now, he says that they could pose an existential risk to humanity.

Yoshua Bengio is one of the most-cited researchers in artificial intelligence (AI). A pioneer in creating artificial neural networks and deep learning algorithms, Bengio, along with Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun and former Google AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton, received the 2018 Turing Award (known as the "Nobel" of computing) for their key contributions to the field.

Yet now Bengio, often referred to alongside his fellow Turing Award winners as one of the "godfathers" of AI, is disturbed by the pace of his technology’s development and adoption. He believes that AI could damage the fabric of society and carries unanticipated risks to humans. Now he is the chair of the International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI — an advisory panel backed by 30 nations, the European Union, and the United Nations.

Live Science spoke with Bengio via video call at the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival in London, where he discussed the possibility of machine consciousness and the risks of the fledgling technology. Here's what he had to say.